The most common way of disinfecting parts of a medical instrument, for example a stethoscope head and other parts of the stethoscope, is by wiping the instrument using a common disinfectant, such as standard isopropyl alcohol. Disinfecting of parts of a medical instrument, for example a stethoscope, should be performed after each use with a patient. However, the reality is that most health care workers do not perform this disinfection frequently enough and thus, increase the likelihood of acting as a carrier for harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi between patients. This could result in higher patient infection rates. Particularly in the hospital setting or other institutional medical setting, such as nursing homes, long term care facilities, and hemodialysis centers, failure to regularly disinfect a medical instrument could result in higher rates of nosocomial infections. Nosocomial infections can be severe, and even life threatening. The issue has become even more relevant with the emergence of several multi-drug resistant organisms that can cause severe infection in humans, such as methicillin resistant staphylococcal aureus (MRSA), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus and vancomycin resistant enterococcus (VRE). In the case of MRSA, such bacteria are commonly discovered in the respiratory tract (nasal mucosa) and in the case of VRE, such bacteria are commonly discovered in the gastrointestinal tract of those individuals who are carriers, as well as on contaminated medical surfaces in the health care environment. These bacteria can cause severe disease in the susceptible patient.
It is believed that these bacteria can often be effectively made harmless on contaminated surfaces, such as stethoscope parts, by simple practice of standard disinfection guidelines. In the case of a medical instrument, such as a stethoscope, this involves the use of standard isopropyl alcohol or other disinfectant. Regular disinfection of the stethoscope should help reduce cross contamination between patients, and possibly impact the overall nosocomial infection rate. One of the main barriers to regular disinfection of the stethoscope parts is the convenience component of such an action.